It's one thing for a legendary NHL head coach to step in and shake things up. But for a fresh coach––new to the NHL––one might think he'd have a difficult time getting everyone on board to use a different system. But for Scott Gordon, this has not been a problem. The players––young and old––have been willing and able to take his new "Overspeed" system and adopt it as their own.

"He obviously had success before he got here and since he's been here we've done well in the exhibition games, so that's a positive sign," said defenseman Freddy Meyer. "It's a real up-tempo, fast-paced, game he's trying to have us play, and I think everyone's buying into it. Hopefully, we continue learning the systems and carry that into game number one."

After an exhibition win against Boston, three rookie scrimmage wins and seeing Gordon's new system put to the test and passing with flying colors early on, the players at Training Camp are getting eager for the games to start counting.

"Everyone is excited to get back out there and start playing again," said Bruno Gervais. "It's been a really long off-season for everyone. We're all happy to get back. It's a new system, where we're going to be the aggressor, putting on a lot of pressure and trying to create a lot of speed. It's going to be interesting. So far so good."

Potentially dampening the spirits of the Islanders are the dozens of hockey media members who put out their yearly prognostications. If the NHL's final standings were based on the media's predictions, the Islanders would finish near the bottom of the standings. But the players aren't worrying about preseason predictions.

"We don't need anyone on the outside to believe in us," said Gervais. "All we need are the people from the inside to believe that we can do it and just focus on our game. It's going to be a battle every night."

Added Mike Comrie, "As athletes, you take predictions with a grain of salt. Everybody starts off the season in the same spot in the standings. If we're competitive, work hard, and everyone plays to their capability, we'll give ourselves a chance to win.

Visit this thread at IslanderMania to submit questions to radio play-by-play announcer Steve Mears about tonight's game or other topics pertaining to Training Camp. He will answer some of the questions on the air during the video broadcast, which will be aired later this week on IslandersTV.